CHAR. Divineft creature, bright Aftræa's daugh ter, How fhall I honour thee for this fuccefs? As no example of the proper name-Astrea, pronounced as a quadrifyllable, is given by Mr. Malone, or has occurred to me, I also think myself authorised to receive-bright, the neceffary epithet fupplied by the fecond folio. STEEVENS. 1-like Adonis' gardens,] It may not be impertinent to take notice of a dispute between four criticks, of very different orders, upon this very important point of the gardens of Adonis. Milton had faid: 66 Spot more delicious than those gardens feign'd, "Or of reviv'd Adonis, or which Dr. Bentley pronounces fpurious; for that the Koi Adwvdos, the gardens of Adonis, fo frequently mentioned by Greek writers, Plato, Plutarch, &c. were nothing but portable earthern pots, with fome lettice or fennel growing in them. On his yearly feftival every woman carried one of them for Adonis's worship; becaufe Venus had once laid him in a lettice bed. The next day they were thrown away, &c. To this Dr. Pearce replies, That this account of the gardens of Adonis is right, and yet Milton may be defended for what he fays of them: for why (fays he) did the Grecians on Adonis feftival carry thefe fmall gardens about in honour of him? It was, because they had a tradition, that, when he was alive, he delighted in gardens, and had a magnificent one: for proof of this we have Pliny's words, xix. 4: "Antiquitas nihil priùs mirata eft quàm Hefperidum hortos, ac regum Adonidis & Alcinoï." One would now think the question well decided: but Mr. Theobald comes, and will needs be Dr. Bentley's fecond. A learned and reverend gentleman (fays he) having attempted to impeach Dr. Bentley of error, for maintaining that there never was exiftent any magnificent or fpacious gardens of Adonis, an opinion in which it has been my fortune to fecond the Doctor, I thought myself concerned, in fome part, to weigh thofe authorities alledged by the objector, &c. The reader fees that Mr. Theobald miftakes the very question in difpute between these two truly learned men, which was not whether Adonis' gardens were ever exiftent, but whether there was a tradition of any celebrated gardens cultivated by Adonis. For this would fufficiently justify Milton's mention of them, together with the gardens of Alcinous, confeffed by the poet himself to be fabulous. But hear their own words. There was no fuch That one day bloom'd, and fruitful were the next. More bleffed hap did ne'er befall our state. REIG. Why ring not out the bells throughout the town ?2 Dauphin, command the citizens make bonfires, ALEN. All France will be replete with mirth and joy, When they shall hear how we have play'd the men. CHAR: 'Tis Joan, not we, by whom the day is won; garden (fays Dr. Bentley) ever exiftent, or even feign'd. He adds the latter part, as knowing that that would juftify the poet; and it is on that affertion only that his adverfary Dr. Pearce joins iffue with him. Why (fays he) did they carry the small earthen gardens ? It was because they had a tradition, that when alive he delighted in gardens. Mr. Theobald, therefore, mistaking the queftion, it is no wonder that all he says, in his long note at the end of his fourth volume, is nothing to the purpofe; it being to fhew that Dr. Pearce's quotations from Pliny and others, do not prove the real existence of the gardens. After thefe, comes the Oxford editor; and he pronounces in favour of Dr. Bentley, against Dr. Pearce, in these words, The gardens of Adonis were never reprefented under any local defcription. But whether this was said at hazard, or to contradict Dr. Pearce, or to rectify Mr. Theobald's miftake of the queftion, it is fo obfcurely expreffed, that one can hardly determine. WARBURTON. Why ring not out the bells throughout the town?] The old copy, unneceffarily as well as redundantly, reads Why ring not out the bells aloud &c. But if the bells rang out; they must have rang aloud; for to ring out, as I am informed, is a technical term with that fignification. The disagreeable jingle, however, of out and without, induces me to fuppofe the line originally flood thus: Why ring not bells aloud throughout the town? VOL. XIII. E STEEVENS. For which, I will divide my crown with her: 3 Than Rhodope's,] Rhodope was a famous ftrumpet, who acquired great riches by her trade. The leaft but moft finished of the Egyptian pyramids (fays Pliny, in the 36th Book of his Natural History, ch. xii.) was built by her. She is faid afterwards to have married Pfammetichus, King of Egypt. Dr. Johnson thinks that the Dauphin means to call Joan of Arc ftrumpet, all the while he is making this loud praise of her. Rhodope is mentioned in the play of The Coftly Whore, 1633: a bafe Rhodope, "Whose body is as common as the fea "In the receipt of every luftful spring." I would read: Than Rhodope's of Memphis ever was. STEEVENS. The brother of Sappho was in love with Rhodope, and purchafed her freedom (for she was a flave in the fame house with Æfop the fabulift) at a great price. Rhodope was of Thrace, not of Memphis. Memphis, a city of Egypt, was celebrated for its pyramids : "Barbara Pyramidum fileat miracula Memphis." MART. De fpectaculis Libel. Ep. I. MALONE. The queftion, I apprehend, is not where Rhodope was born, but where the obtained celebrity. Her Thracian birth-place would not have rescued her from oblivion. STEEVENS. The emendation propofed by Mr. Steevens must be adopted. The meaning is not that Rhodope herself was of Memphis, but-that her pyramis was there. I will rear to her, fays the Dauphin, a pyramid more ftately than that of Memphis, which was called Rhodope's. Pliny fays the pyramids were fix miles from that city; and that "the fairest and moft commended for workmanship was built at the coft and charges of one Rhodope, a verie ftrumpet." RITSON. coffer of Darius,] When Alexander the Great took Transported fhall be at high festivals [Flourish. Exeunt. the city of Gaza, the metropolis of Syria, amidst the other spoils and wealth of Darius treasured up there, he found an exceeding rich and beautiful little cheft or cafket, and asked those about him what they thought fitteft to be laid up in it. When they had severally delivered their opinions, he told them, he esteemed nothing fo worthy to be preserved in it as Homer's Iliad. Vide Plutarchum in Vitâ Alexandri Magni. THEOBALD. The very words of the text are found in Puttenham's Arte of English Poefie, 1589: "In what price the noble poems of Homer were holden with Alexander the Great, infomuch as everie night they were layd under his pillow, and by day were carried in the rich jewel cofer of Darius, lately before vanquished by him in battaile." MALONE. I believe, we should read, with Puttenham, "jewel-coffer," and not, as in the text, jewel'd coffer." The jewel-coffer of Darius was, I fuppofe, the cabinet in which he kept his gems. To a jewelled coffer (i. e. a coffer ornamented with jewels) the epithet rich would have been fuperfluous. My conjecture, however, deferves not much attention; becaufe Pliny, Lib. II. ch. 29, informs us, that this casket, when found, was full of precious oils, and was decorated with gems of great value. STEEVENS. 5 Before the kings and queens of France.] Sir Thomas Hanmer fupplies the obvious defect in this line, by reading Ever before the kings &c. STEEVENS. ACT II. SCENE 1. The fame. Enter to the Gates, a French Sergeant, and Two Sentinels. SERG. Sirs, take your places, and be vigilant : If any noise, or foldier, you perceive, Near to the walls, by fome apparent fign, Let us have knowledge at the court of guard." 1 SENT. Sergeant, you fhall. [Exit Sergeant.] Thus are poor fervitors (When others fleep upon their quiet beds,) Conftrain'd to watch in darkness, rain, and cold. Enter TALBOT, BEDFORD, BURGUNDY, and Forces, with fcaling Ladders; their Drums beating a dead march. TAL. Lord regent,-and redoubted Burgundy,By whofe approach, the regions of Artois, Walloon, and Picardy, are friends to us,This happy night the Frenchmen are fecure, Having all day carous'd and banqueted : Embrace we then this opportunity; As fitting beft to quittance their deceit, Contriv'd by art, and baleful forcery. 6 1 court of guard.] The fame phrafe occurs again in Othello, Antony and Cleopatra, &c. and is equivalent to the modern term-guard-room. STEEVENS. |